The Best Help He Could Get Her
by ProxyoftheMuse
Summary: Takes place at the end of Painted Windows and after. When Hexadecimal wakes up from her coma to find Mike the TV in her lair, how will she react to the presence of the talking television?


**So a little author's note: Reboot is not in any way nostalgic to me. I wasn't born when it came out, I never caught any reruns on TV as a kid, and I never even heard of it until about three years ago when I was a senior in high school. I looked it up, found full episodes on YouTube, watched the whole series from start to finish and I** ** _loved_** **it. Maybe it didn't have the same impact on me as it did on those of you who grew up with the show, but I'm happy to have watched it. While the animation is obviously primitive compared to our advancements in technology, I was still able to appreciate it for it being revolutionary for its time. But it was the writing that truly made the show for me. That and the characters. Hexadecimal became a quick favorite for me, and I'm happy to have her in my first Reboot fanfiction!**

 **To sum it up, I had the bug in my ear to write this, it's my first Reboot fan fiction and I hope I won't disappoint!**

Bob and Mike stared down at the shaking, fetal form of Hexadecimal while the just freed binomes cautiously looked from behind them. The sight of seeing the usually melodramatic and lively virus was rather heart wrenching, especially for Bob. They even felt bad for Scuzzy when his mistress shrank away from him when the familiar rushed to her aid.

"What have I done?" Bob whispered shaking his head. Despite all of the mayhem that Hexadecimal caused and threw his way since his arrival to Mainframe, he still pitied the virus. In a twisted way, she was like a bored, unruly child acting up to get the attention she lacked and not thinking about the consequences that were to come. And Bob was not oblivious to the fact that other than Scuzzy he was probably the only closest thing she had to a friend.

Mike briefly patted the guardian comfortingly on his leg. "Hey, so you didn't know that her mask was a power limiter and that its removal would have caused her and our destruction. Any of us could have made that mistake."

"We need to do something. And I think I may have an idea."

"What is it?" Asked Mike, but when he saw the look on Bob's face he quickly figured out what he had in mind. "Oh no! I know what you're thinking guardian. Please don't make me do it!" He sobbed and dropping on his knees desperately. "I'm too young to be horribly dismantled!"

"I'm not going to make you Mike, but we can't just leave her like this."

"Why not?" The zero binome asked chuckling. "It's a lot less trouble for us to worry about. Besides, this new look suits her." The binome moved to poke Hexadecimal with his baton only to be stopped by Scuzzy who hissed and bared his fangs at him. The one binome yelped and quickly ran behind Bob for cover. Bob went closer to Hex to pick her up and place her on her throne. Once she was settled he turned to go back to Mike.

"Mike please!" Bob pleaded with him again.

"After everything she just did? No way!" As if to emphasize his statement Mike crossed his arms and looked away from the guardian. "I believe I've risked my bitmap enough for today."

"Yeah, I'm with him." One of the one binomes said.

"Mike, she has no one!" Bob heard an irritated groan and turned to see Scuzzy narrowing his eyes at the guardian as if to say "I'm right here". "Except for Scuzzy, who can't exactly reply to her properly." Bob corrected himself. Scuzzy showed no offense to the comment and nodded as if agreeing with him. Bob continued talking to Mike. "If either of us were in her position and somebody was watching us we wouldn't want them to leave without helping us."

Bob had Mike there. As much as Hexadecimal terrorized him, it still did not change the fact that she was scared and staring into nothing at the moment.

"Well if you're so worried about her then _you_ stay with her until she's better! You'll have a heck of a better chance surviving her wrath than _him_." The other one binome sneered pointing a baton in Mike's direction.

"I can't just drop everything to focus on Hex, I still have to help out in Mainframe. Plus when she wakes up to find me in her lair she'll never let me leave!" Bob shuddered at the thought of what Hex would do to him.

"Alright!" Mike finally declared. "I'll do it!"

"What?!" The binomes stared at Mike like he was completely random.

"Are you sure Mike?" Bob asked wanting to give him a chance to finalize his now and back out. As persistent as he's been in asking Mike to stay with Hexadecimal he didn't mean to come off as so commanding in that situation. He truly didn't want to pressure him into doing this.

"Yes, but only as a favor for a close, personal friend of mine, and to shut my nagging conscience up."

"You won't even have to go back home from Lost Angles alone, just vid window me when Hex is all better and I'll come pick you up."

"Well then guardian, you got yourself a deal!" Mike stretched out his hand for Bob to shake.

"Thanks, Mike. I owe you one." Bob got up after shaking his roommate's hand and got his zip board out. "Good luck! You're gonna need it."

The guardian was followed by the binomes who also wished Mike luck, one of them making a snide comment on how if the TV still had a deletion wish, the binome knew better places for it. Mike ignored the comment. Right now he had work to do.

…

Bob was on his way back to Mainframe after the binomes rather passive-aggressively rejected his offer to escort them back and went home themselves. Once he left Lost Angles he used Glitch to contact Dot and was relieved when she said that she, Enzo and Frisket were fine. When asked about Hexadecimal and answering the question, however, neither of them seemed too pleased.

"You made Mike the TV live with Hexadecimal?!" Enzo exclaimed, making sure that he heard Bob right. "Dude!" Frisket let out his customary growl at Bob, but he wasn't surprised by that.

"He volunteered. Eventually." Bob replied. "It's only temporary Enzo, she needs to recover, and it was the least I could do for her after having nearly deleted her."

"But Bob, what's gonna happen to Mike when Hex is back to normal?" Dot asked. She was appalled. As annoying as Mike was, he certainly didn't deserve to be at the mercy of the Queen of Chaos! She didn't even want to think about what torment poor Mike would suffer when Hex wakes up to find an intruder in her home.

"Worst case scenario he'll evade Hex as best as he can and I'll be back in Lost Angles to pick him up as fast as I can."

"If there's a still a Mike left to pick up."

"Mike's a lot tougher than we give him credit for Dot, he'll be fine."

Dot finally sighed. As much as she disapproved of it, there wasn't much that she could say or do if Mike ended up staying there voluntarily. "Alright Bob, if you say so. We'll see you back in Mainframe ASAP." And with that, she hung up.

…

Mike woke up to what was his third second in Lost Angles. Even though Hex regained her glowing green eyes, it did not take a genius to figure out she was still pretty out of it. Even though Mike was working hard to get Hex to wake up again, he still dreaded the day when she would find him in front of her and reduce him to loose parts.

But other than that understandable fear Mike was holding up in Lost Angles well enough. With Hexadecimal out of commission, he only had Scuzzy to deal with. Right now the viral familiar was still sleeping, and even when he was awake he was not a threat to Mike. The robotic, cat-like creature ignored him, mostly, to check on his mistress, and then to leave the lair to chase some nulls in Lost Angles or to even spy on Megabyte and the rest of Mainframe so that he could hopefully update Hex soon.

As usual, Mike showed Hex the first thing on him that came on when he turned himself on. "It's the _Love Hospital_!"

"And you can get this wonderful product for only, 99.99.99!" Still no response. Thinking what else to do, Mike remembered a horror movie that he once showed that caused Bob to not sleep for a few seconds.

"No, no mother, what have you done?! It's coming this way! It's horrible! AHH!" Hexadecimal finally responded and raised her head. Mike flinched when her mask went from neutral a neutral smile to a monstrous glower and switching back to its original expression again.

"What happened?" She asked groggily. Her head felt like an anvil and she was having a hard time keeping it steady, but just as she saw Mike standing in front of her, all feelings of weakness and dizziness were forgotten. Instead, she kept her eyes on the tiny talking television.

"I remember you." She spoke again. "You're the annoying little creature who helped Bob foil my art career." Mike gulped, mentally preparing himself for Hex to go from dazed to homicidal. Mike's whimpering and trembling was all that Hex needed for an answer. He knew that whatever the viral witch had planned for him was going to be painful.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY LAIR?!" She shrieked as she bared her vengeful red eyes and fangs. Mike yelped, dodging out of a way of the few fireballs that Hex hurled at him while cackling maniacally. The ruckus awoke Scuzzy, who perked up at the sight of his mistress being well again and speed over to rub himself against her slender leg. Hex ceased her tantrum at the tickling sensation.

"Scuzzy!" She cooed. As quickly as Hex was ready to kill she switched her face to a sweet smile as if she did not attempt to singe Mike at all. "Oh, how I've missed you so!" She levitated the cat to sit on her lap and stroked him, his purrs growing with each one. "You must have been so lonely around here, all worried sick about me. But no matter. I'm back now." When Scuzzy contently settled himself onto her lap and snuggled himself against her stomach she turned her attention back to Mike. "Now then, what to do with you?" She asked with a malicious smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Scuzzy raised his eyebrows at Mike's distressed sounds. Before she could let out another fireball he darted himself up and began rubbing himself aggressively against her.

"Not now Scuzzy!" Hex snapped at the interruption that her familiar gave, ready to push him off her lap so she can resume her business, but he persisted.

"Fine, what is it?" Once he had his mistress's full attention again he flashed his glass dome with a reply of the events of the trauma, how Bob and Mike were talking about what to do with her and how Mike eventually agreed to stay. When the dome went blank Hex again watched Mike intently, the uncomfortable silence getting to him."Well, this is an awkward situation. So, Bob left you here with me did he?"

"Why yes. As a close, personal friend of his it was only fair that I did him this small favor."

Hex again stared thoughtfully at her unexpected guest. She knew now she couldn't just destroy him, but now thoughts of Bob were plaguing her mind.

"I OUGHT TO DESTROY HIM FOR EVERYTHING THAT HE PUT ME THROUGH!" She shrieked baring her fangs again. "But it _was_ sweet of him to have thought of me!" She swooned in her throne with a love-struck grin. "I must say I _am_ beginning to feel better already." Admittedly Hexadecimal would have preferred to have Bob be with her right now as Michael had suggested to him earlier, but if the sentient appliance in her presence was here because of him she'll just have to take what she can from the guardian. And she had to admit Michael was rather funny.

"Well, that's just peachy!" Mike happily stated. "Now if you'll excuse me I'll be on my way. Don't bother getting up, I'll show myself out!" Just as Mike was about to vid window Bob like he was instructed to, Hex's blue-eyed, teary mask flashed in front of him followed by the rest of her body materializing and laying down on her stomach with her chin resting on her folded hands pleadingly.

"Oh Michael, you can't go now. I'm still rather shaken by my trauma. There's no telling what episodes I might suffer, and it wouldn't be very fair of you to just leave me in my condition, w _ould it?"_ She flashed a threatening scowl. Scuzzy also joined his mistress in terrorizing Mike, growling and hissing at him.

Mike gulped. "N-n-no, of c-course not, m-madame. Happy to serve!" With that, Hex's smile returned.

"Perfect! I'm glad we can come to an agreement, Michael. Now enough about that, what else can you tell me about Bob?" Perhaps he could put in a good word for her when it was time for him to go home?

Mike smirked mischievously. If he's stuck here he may as well have some fun with it. "Coming up next on _The Guardian Network:_ we may all know Bob from his heroic deeds in the games and in his epic battles against the evil Megabyte, but what goes on when the games leave, when dastardly deeds sleep? How does Bob manage to spend that personal time? Inquiring minds want to know! Broadcast exclusively in Lost Angles all day, every day!" Mike winced when Hex let out a delighted shrill when a scene of Bob poking his head out of the shower to yell at Mike to get out of the bathroom came on, but it was better than her hurling fireballs at him.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

 **And there we go! I had a blast writing this. I'm always uptight about having the characters stay in character every time I write a fan fiction, so I hope I did these guys justice! Hex and Mike were especially difficult to write, but dear God are they fun.**

 **I appreciate any feedback so please review!**


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